SimpleNutrition nutritional management system

ABSTRACT

A nutritional management system. The system comprises a processor, a memory, a first data store comprising a list of products, universal product codes associated with the products, and nutritional information associated with the products, a second data store comprising purchase histories linked to a plurality of loyalty card users, and an application stored in the memory. When executed by the processor, the application reads a purchase history of a loyalty card user over a most recent predefined time period from the second data store, analyzes a most recent predefined time period of the purchase history of the loyalty card user based on objective nutritional guidelines to identify a predefined number of most unhealthy purchased items, searches the first data store to find substitutes for the unhealthy purchased items, transmits the substitutes, receives a selection of one or more of the substitutes, and promotes generating a shopping list comprising selected substitutes.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to and the benefit under 35U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/504,036filed Jul. 1, 2011 and 61/665,787 filed Jun. 28, 2012, both entitled“SimpleNutrition Nutritional Management System,” by Margaret-Ann Reed,et al., each of which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety for all purposes.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND

Loyalty cards have become increasingly common in grocery stores.Discounts may be offered in grocery stores based on the presentation ofloyalty cards at check-out. Information about shopping behavior may becollected based on loyalty cards and analyzed to provide improvedstocking of products. Shoppers are becoming more aware of thehealthfulness of the foods that they buy. Foods that fulfill like eatingand/or meal planning purposes may nonetheless differ in theirhealthfulness. Unfortunately, many shoppers may wish to eat healthilyand/or to feed their families healthy food, but may be insufficientlyknowledgeable about which foods are healthier than others and/or may nothave time to research the nutritional differences among foods.

SUMMARY

In an embodiment, a nutritional management system is disclosed. Thesystem comprises a processor, a memory, a first data store comprising alist of products, universal product codes associated with the products,and nutritional information associated with the products, a second datastore comprising purchase histories linked to a plurality of differentloyalty card users, and an application stored in the memory. Whenexecuted by the processor, the application accesses the second datastore to read a purchase history of a loyalty card user over a mostrecent predefined time period, analyzes a most recent predefined timeperiod of the purchase history of the loyalty card user based onobjective nutritional guidelines to identify a predefined number of mostunhealthy purchased items, searches the first data store to findsubstitutes for the unhealthy purchased items, transmits thesubstitutes, receives a selection of one or more of the substitutes, andpromotes generating a shopping list comprising selected substitutes.

In an embodiment, a computer based method of shopping for food isdisclosed. The method comprises accessing a first data store to read amost recent predefined time period of purchase history of a loyalty carduser, wherein the first data store comprises purchase histories linkedto a plurality of different loyalty card users, analyzing the food itemsof the most recent predefined time period of purchase history based onobjective nutritional guidelines to identify a predefined number of themost unhealthy purchased items, and identifying a list of potentialproduct substitutes by accessing a second data store comprising a listof products, universal product codes associated with the products, andnutritional information associated with the products to obtain a list ofproduct entries that belong to the same food types as the unhealthypurchased items. The method further comprises identifying a list ofcandidate product substitutes by analyzing the list of potential productsubstitutes based on the objective nutritional guidelines, presentingthe list of candidate substitutes, receiving substitute selections, andtransmitting a shopping list comprising the substitute selections.

In an embodiment, a computer based method of shopping for food isdisclosed. The method comprises accessing a first data store to read amost recent predefined time period of purchase history of a loyalty carduser, wherein the first data store comprises purchase histories linkedto a plurality of different loyalty card users, receiving a selection ofa food category filter criteria and a selection of a first food nutrientfilter criteria, and presenting a list of the products purchased duringthe most recent predefined time period that match the food categoryfilter criteria selection. The method further comprises receiving aselection of one of the products that match the food category filtercriteria selection, accessing a second data store to identify productsthat match the food category filter criteria selection, wherein thesecond data store comprises a list of products, universal product codesassociated with the products, and nutritional information associatedwith the products, and analyzing the products in the second data storethat match the food category filter based on the first food nutrientfilter criteria to identify substitution candidates. The method furthercomprises presenting the nutritional information associated with theselected product from the most recent predefined time period of purchasehistory side-by-side with nutritional information associated with atleast one substitute candidate, receiving a substitute selection, andtransmitting a shopping list comprising the substitute selection.

These and other features will be more clearly understood from thefollowing detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure, referenceis now made to the following brief description, taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings and detailed description, wherein likereference numerals represent like parts.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a nutritional management system accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of another method according to an embodiment ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a computer system according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It should be understood at the outset that although illustrativeimplementations of one or more embodiments are illustrated below, thedisclosed systems and methods may be implemented using any number oftechniques, whether currently known or not yet in existence. Thedisclosure should in no way be limited to the illustrativeimplementations, drawings, and techniques illustrated below, but may bemodified within the scope of the appended claims along with their fullscope of equivalents.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a nutritional management system 100 is described.In an embodiment, the system 100 comprises a Smart Nutrition managementplatform 102, a customer purchase data store 104, a product data store106, a repository of objective nutritional guidelines 108, and a network110. The system 100 may further comprise a plurality of computers 111, aplurality of mobile phones 112, and a plurality of base transceiverstations (BTSs) 112. The network 110 comprises one or more publicnetworks, one or more private networks, or a combination thereof. TheSmart Nutrition management platform 102, herein after referred to as theplatform 102, may comprise a computer system. Computer systems aredescribed in more detail hereinafter. While a mobile phone 112 isillustrated in FIG. 1 and described below, it is understood that themobile phone 112 may be substituted for by a personal digital assistant(PDA) or by a media player in some embodiments.

The platform 102 provides a number of tools for assisting a customer,for example a grocery store loyalty card user or club card user, tobuild a shopping list for shopping in a grocery store while guiding thecustomer to make more healthy food choices. In an embodiment, theplatform 102 executes a smart nutrition application 114, a purchasehistory analyzer 116, a substitution generator 118, and a filteringapplication 120. One skilled in the art will appreciate that in anembodiment, two or more of the components 114, 116, 118, or 120 may becombined together and/or that one or more of the components 114, 116,118, 120 may be split into two or more separate components. It isunderstood that the platform 102 may execute other applications. Forexample, in an embodiment, the platform 102 may further execute a mealplanning application. For more details about meal planning applications,see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/560,930, filed Nov. 17, 2006,published as U.S. Publication of Application No. 2008/0086373 A1 andentitled “Nutrition Management and Meal Planning,” by Stuart W. Aitken,et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The purchase data store 104 comprises data about items purchased by aplurality of customers, for example purchases by customers at any of aplurality of stores operated by a grocery store chain or, alternatively,at a specific store operated by a grocery store chain. The data maycomprise an identification of the purchasing customer, a universalproduct code (UPC) that identifies each purchased item, a quantityand/or weight, a date and time of the purchase, and other relatedinformation. The identification of the purchasing customer may be aloyalty card identity or a club card identity. The data may be stored asindividual purchase items or as individual items grouped by check-outsession or grouped in some other manner. The data may extend back apredefined period of time, for example about three months, about sixmonths, about nine months, about a year, about a year and a half, abouttwo years, or some other predefined period of time. The predefinedperiod of time need not be defined as an integer number of months, butmay be defined in number of days, number of weeks, or some other timeunit. Alternatively, the data may extend back indefinitely, for exampleto a first ever purchase by a loyalty card user.

The product data store 106 may comprise data about products that areoffered by sale by the subject grocery store or grocery store chain. Itis understood that in some circumstances the product data store 106 maycomprise data about products that are not offered for sale, for exampleproducts that have been discontinued but have not yet been removed fromthe product data store 106 or may comprise data about products that areplanned to be offered for sale in the future. The data may comprise anidentity of the product, such as a universal product code, amanufacturer of the product, and nutritional information about theproduct. The nutritional information may comprise a quantity ofcalories, protein, carbohydrate, fat, saturated fat, trans fat, fiber,cholesterol, sodium, potassium, calcium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, andother nutrients that are contained in the subject product. Thenutritional information may comprise indications of percentage of dailyrecommended amounts of nutrients provided by the subject product. Whileillustrated in FIG. 1 and described separately, in an embodiment, thedata stores 104, 106 may be combined in a single data store.

The objective nutritional guidelines 108 comprise one or more sources ofinformation on nutritional guidelines promulgated by independent groups,for example the United States Department of Agriculture nutritionalguidelines, the Food and Drug Administration nutritional guidelines. Thenutritional guidelines may be provided by other governmentalorganizations or by private medical and/or nutritional organizations,for example by the American Medical Association or some otherorganization. The use of the term “objective” in “objective nutritionalguidelines” is meant to convey that the guidelines are provided bypresumably independent sources that are customarily granted apresumption of disinterested competence on nutritional matters. Theobjective nutritional guidelines 108 may comprise maximum thresholds forconsumption of deleterious nutrients or foods as well as minimumthresholds for consumption of nutrients or foods. For example, theguidelines may comprise a maximum quantity of canned Albacore tuna permonth and a minimum quantity of protein per day. Albacore tuna maycontain elevated levels of mercury, a harmful ingredient when consumedin excessive amounts. The objective nutritional guidelines for food 108may be maintained in data stores maintained by independent sources butbe searchable or accessible from the platform 102. In an embodiment, theobjective nutritional guidelines for food 108 may be copied to a memoryassociated with the platform 102 and updated periodically to keepsynchronized with the evolving content in the objective nutritionalguidelines for food 108. Hereinafter, the objective nutritionalguidelines for food 108 may be referred to as guidelines 108.

The smart nutrition application 114 provides an interface for loyaltycard users who have registered to use the smart nutrition application114 or a related shopping application. The interface may be a web pageor other interactive interface that may be remotely accessed by thecomputer 111 or by the mobile phone 112 that communicates with thenetwork 110 via the base transceiver station 113 that provides awireless communication link to the mobile phone 112. The loyalty cardusers may use the interface to plan shopping trips and/or develop ashopping list for their next visit to a store operated by the grocerystore or grocery store chain that operates the system 100.

The smart nutrition application 114 may respond to a request bypresenting a list of items that meet nutritional guidelines as capturedin the guidelines 108. The list of items that meet nutritionalguidelines may be presented in a web page transmitted as a hypertextmarkup language (HTML) document to the computer 111 or the mobile phone112. In an embodiment, the smart nutrition application 114 may formatand/or configure the HTML document targeted to the mobile phone 112 tobe displayed on a typical display of a mobile phone. The list of itemsmay be grouped according to nutrient type and/or food category. Forexample, beverages that are low in calories may be selected forpresentation to the loyalty card user based on an input selecting anutritional filter of low calories and a food category filter ofbeverages. For example, beverages that are low in calories but high invitamin C may be selected for presentation to the loyalty card user thatinputs these criteria or filter criteria. The smart nutritionapplication 114 may provide controls in the user interface for selectinga list member and adding the selected item to an in-progress shoppinglist. In an embodiment, food category filter criteria may comprisebeverages; bread and bakery; breakfast and cereal; cookies, snacks, andcandy; dairy, eggs, and cheese; fruits and vegetables; and meat andseafood. In an embodiment, food nutrient filter criteria may comprisecalcium, calories, carbohydrates, cholesterol, fiber, fat, iron,potassium, protein, saturated fat, sodium, sugar, trans fat, vitamin A,and vitamin C.

The smart nutrition application 114 may respond to a control input froma loyalty card user to present a list of previously purchased itemsalong with suggested substitutions for these purchased items that aremore healthful. The list of previously purchased items may be presentedin a web page transmitted as a hypertext markup language (HTML) documentto the computer 111 or the mobile phone 112. In an embodiment, the smartnutrition application 114 may format and/or configure the HTML documenttargeted to the mobile phone 112 to be displayed on a typical display ofa mobile phone. The list of previously purchased items may be determinedbased on a frequency of purchase or some other selective basis. The listmay be analyzed, for example by the purchase history analyzer 116, todetermine the least healthy previously purchased items and to list theseitems in order of the least to the most healthy previously purchaseditems, for example based on the guidelines 108. Alternatively, the leasthealthy previously purchased items may be identified based at least inpart on a nutritional goal defined by the loyalty account user.Alternatively, the least healthy previous purchases may be presented insome other distinctive way to call attention to it. In this way, theleast healthy items may be most immediately brought to the attention ofthe loyalty card user, for example at the top of a display window. In anembodiment, the 30 most offensive items are selected for listing.Alternatively, the 20 most offensive items are selected for listing orthe 10 most offensive items are selected for listing. Alternatively,some other number of most offensive items are selected for listing. Inan embodiment, the number of items selected for listing may be based onwhether the loyalty card user is using the computer 111 or the mobilephone 112 to interact with the smart nutrition application 114. Forexample, fewer items may be selected for listing when the loyalty carduser is using the mobile phone 112 that may have a smaller display thanthe display associated with the computer 111.

The substitution generator 118 may analyze the list of least healthypreviously purchased items, identify candidate purchase items from thesame food categories by accessing the product data store 106, analyzethe candidate purchase items based on the guidelines 108, and determinefood substitution recommendations that provide the best improvement inhealthy qualities over the unhealthy previously purchased items. Forexample, a turkey bacon substitution may be suggested for a previouspork bacon purchase. For example, a low calorie fruit juice may besuggested as a substitute for a high calorie carbonated soft drink. Oneor more of the healthy substitution candidates may be presentedproximate to the unhealthy previously purchased items, and the interfacemay promote the loyalty card user to select from the healthysubstitution candidates to add to the in-progress shopping list. In anembodiment, substitute candidates that are associated with an individualdiscount targeted to the loyalty card user may be presenteddistinctively to alert the loyalty card user and/or call attention tothe available discount. The substitutes may be presented in a web pagetransmitted as a hypertext markup language (HTML) document to thecomputer 111 and/or the mobile phone 112.

In an embodiment, the purchase history analyzer 116 may analyze a mostrecent purchases associated with a loyalty card user over a predefinedduration of time or time period by accessing the purchase data store 104to generate a nutrition history. For example, the nutrition history maydetermine an average daily consumption of nutrients over the subjectmost recent time period, compare the average daily consumption ofnutrients to the guidelines 108, and provide a roll-up summary or reportcard of how well the loyalty card user's food consumption matches to ormeets nutrition guidelines. In an embodiment, the interface provided bythe smart nutrition application 114 may provide controls for identifyinghow many household members consume the food purchases and a distributionamong the household members. For example, a household may comprise anadult male, an adult female, a 10 year old male child, and an 8 year oldfemale child. For example, the loyalty card user may define a fooddistribution to be 35% adult male, 30% adult female, 20% male child, 15%female child. These distributions may be used along with the householdpurchasing data to determine a nutritional report card for eachhousehold member.

In an embodiment, the smart nutrition application 114 and/or thefiltering application 120 may promote the loyalty card user inputting afood category filter criteria and one or more food nutrient filtercriteria. The substitution generator 118 may then generate substitutionsuggestions for previously purchased items belonging to the input foodcategory filter criteria based on the one or more food nutrient filtercriteria. Thus, if the food category is cereal and the nutrient filtercriteria include high protein and low carbohydrate, the substitutiongenerator 118 searches the product data store 106 for cereal productsthat meet the two food nutrient filter criteria and presents one or morecandidate substitutes that best match the food nutrient filter criteria.

As the loyalty card user builds a shopping list, he or she may store thein-progress shopping list and complete the list at a later time. Theloyalty card user may have a completed shopping list emailed to thecomputer 111 or to the mobile phone 112. The loyalty card user may havethe completed shopping list texted to the mobile phone 112.

Turning now to FIG. 2, a method 200 is described. At block 202, access afirst data store to read a most recent predefined time duration ofpurchase history of a loyalty card user, wherein the first data storecomprises purchase histories linked to a plurality of different loyaltycard users. In an embodiment, the first data store comprises thepurchase data store 104 described above with reference to FIG. 1. Atblock 204, analyze the food items of the most recent predefined timeduration of purchase history based on objective nutritional guidelinesto identify a predefined number of the most unhealthy purchased items,for example the most 3 months of purchase history, the most recent 6months of purchase history, or some other time interval. The predefinedtime duration need not be an integer number of months but may be anumber of days, a number of weeks, or some other time unit. In anembodiment, the objective nutritional guidelines may be obtained fromthe objective nutritional guidelines 108 described with reference toFIG. 1. At block 206, identify a list of potential product substitutesby accessing a second data store comprising a list of products,universal product codes associated with the products, and nutritionalinformation associated with the products to obtain a list of productentries that belong to the same food types as the unhealthy purchaseditems. In an embodiment, the second data store comprises the data store106 described above with reference to FIG. 1. At block 208, identify alist of candidate product substitutes by analyzing the list of potentialproduct substitutes based on the objective nutritional guidelines. Atblock 210, present the list of candidate substitutes. At block 212,receive substitute selections. At block 214, transmit a shopping listcomprising the substitute selections. In an embodiment, the method 200may be performed by the platform 102 described with reference to FIG. 1.The method 200 may provide an easy way to manage household nutrition andpromote more healthy eating.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a method 230 is described. At block 232, access afirst data store to read a most recent predefined time period ofpurchase history of a loyalty card user, wherein the first data storecomprises purchase histories linked to a plurality of different loyaltycard users, for example the most recent 3 months, 6 months, or someother time duration. The predefined time duration need not be an integernumber of months but may be a number of days, a number of weeks, or someother time unit. In an embodiment, the first data store comprises thepurchase data store 104 described above with reference to FIG. 1. Atblock 234, receive a selection of a food category filter criteria and aselection of a first food nutrient filter criteria. At block 236,present a list of the products purchased during the most recentpredefined time duration that match the food category filter criteriaselection. At block 238, receive a selection of one of the products thatmatch the food category filter criteria selection. At block 240, accessa second data store to identify products that match the food categoryfilter criteria selection, wherein the second data store comprises alist of products, universal product codes associated with the products,and nutritional information associated with the products. In anembodiment, the second data store comprises the product data store 106described with reference to FIG. 1. At block 242, analyze the productsin the second data store that match the food category filter based onthe first food nutrient filter category to identify substitutioncandidates. At block 244, present the nutritional information associatedwith the selected product from the most recent predefined time period ofpurchase history side-by-side with nutritional information associatedwith at least one substitute candidate. At block 246, receive asubstitute selection. For example, the nutritional information may bepresented on a display associated with the computer 111 or the mobilephone 112. At block 248, transmit a shopping list comprising thesubstitute selection. Portions of the method 230 may be performed by theplatform 102.

FIG. 4 illustrates a computer system 380 suitable for implementing oneor more embodiments disclosed herein. For example, the SmartNutritionManagement Platform 102 may be implemented in a form substantiallysimilar to that of the computer system 380. The computer system 380includes a processor 382 (which may be referred to as a centralprocessor unit or CPU) that is in communication with memory devicesincluding secondary storage 384, read only memory (ROM) 386, randomaccess memory (RAM) 388, input/output (I/O) devices 390, and networkconnectivity devices 392. The processor 382 may be implemented as one ormore CPU chips.

It is understood that by programming and/or loading executableinstructions onto the computer system 380, at least one of the CPU 382,the RAM 388, and the ROM 386 are changed, transforming the computersystem 380 in part into a particular machine or apparatus having thenovel functionality taught by the present disclosure. It is fundamentalto the electrical engineering and software engineering arts thatfunctionality that can be implemented by loading executable softwareinto a computer can be converted to a hardware implementation by wellknown design rules. Decisions between implementing a concept in softwareversus hardware typically hinge on considerations of stability of thedesign and numbers of units to be produced rather than any issuesinvolved in translating from the software domain to the hardware domain.Generally, a design that is still subject to frequent change may bepreferred to be implemented in software, because re-spinning a hardwareimplementation is more expensive than re-spinning a software design.Generally, a design that is stable that will be produced in large volumemay be preferred to be implemented in hardware, for example in anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), because for largeproduction runs the hardware implementation may be less expensive thanthe software implementation. Often a design may be developed and testedin a software form and later transformed, by well known design rules, toan equivalent hardware implementation in an application specificintegrated circuit that hardwires the instructions of the software. Inthe same manner as a machine controlled by a new ASIC is a particularmachine or apparatus, likewise a computer that has been programmedand/or loaded with executable instructions may be viewed as a particularmachine or apparatus.

The secondary storage 384 is typically comprised of one or more diskdrives or tape drives and is used for non-volatile storage of data andas an over-flow data storage device if RAM 388 is not large enough tohold all working data. Secondary storage 384 may be used to storeprograms which are loaded into RAM 388 when such programs are selectedfor execution. The ROM 386 is used to store instructions and perhapsdata which are read during program execution. ROM 386 is a non-volatilememory device which typically has a small memory capacity relative tothe larger memory capacity of secondary storage 384. The RAM 388 is usedto store volatile data and perhaps to store instructions. Access to bothROM 386 and RAM 388 is typically faster than to secondary storage 384.The secondary storage 384, the RAM 388, and/or the ROM 386 may bereferred to in some contexts as computer readable storage media and/ornon-transitory computer readable media.

I/O devices 390 may include printers, video monitors, liquid crystaldisplays (LCDs), touch screen displays, keyboards, keypads, switches,dials, mice, track balls, voice recognizers, card readers, paper tapereaders, or other well-known input devices.

The network connectivity devices 392 may take the form of modems, modembanks, Ethernet cards, universal serial bus (USB) interface cards,serial interfaces, token ring cards, fiber distributed data interface(FDDI) cards, wireless local area network (WLAN) cards, radiotransceiver cards such as code division multiple access (CDMA), globalsystem for mobile communications (GSM), long-term evolution (LTE),worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), and/or otherair interface protocol radio transceiver cards, and other well-knownnetwork devices. These network connectivity devices 392 may enable theprocessor 382 to communicate with the Internet or one or more intranets.With such a network connection, it is contemplated that the processor382 might receive information from the network, or might outputinformation to the network in the course of performing theabove-described method steps. Such information, which is oftenrepresented as a sequence of instructions to be executed using processor382, may be received from and outputted to the network, for example, inthe form of a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave.

Such information, which may include data or instructions to be executedusing processor 382 for example, may be received from and outputted tothe network, for example, in the form of a computer data baseband signalor signal embodied in a carrier wave. The baseband signal or signalembedded in the carrier wave, or other types of signals currently usedor hereafter developed, may be generated according to several methodswell known to one skilled in the art. The baseband signal and/or signalembedded in the carrier wave may be referred to in some contexts as atransitory signal.

The processor 382 executes instructions, codes, computer programs,scripts which it accesses from hard disk, floppy disk, optical disk(these various disk based systems may all be considered secondarystorage 384), ROM 386, RAM 388, or the network connectivity devices 392.While only one processor 382 is shown, multiple processors may bepresent. Thus, while instructions may be discussed as executed by aprocessor, the instructions may be executed simultaneously, serially, orotherwise executed by one or multiple processors. Instructions, codes,computer programs, scripts, and/or data that may be accessed from thesecondary storage 384, for example, hard drives, floppy disks, opticaldisks, and/or other device, the ROM 386, and/or the RAM 388 may bereferred to in some contexts as non-transitory instructions and/ornon-transitory information.

In an embodiment, the computer system 380 may comprise two or morecomputers in communication with each other that collaborate to perform atask. For example, but not by way of limitation, an application may bepartitioned in such a way as to permit concurrent and/or parallelprocessing of the instructions of the application. Alternatively, thedata processed by the application may be partitioned in such a way as topermit concurrent and/or parallel processing of different portions of adata set by the two or more computers. In an embodiment, virtualizationsoftware may be employed by the computer system 380 to provide thefunctionality of a number of servers that is not directly bound to thenumber of computers in the computer system 380. For example,virtualization software may provide twenty virtual servers on fourphysical computers. In an embodiment, the functionality disclosed abovemay be provided by executing the application and/or applications in acloud computing environment. Cloud computing may comprise providingcomputing services via a network connection using dynamically scalablecomputing resources. Cloud computing may be supported, at least in part,by virtualization software. A cloud computing environment may beestablished by an enterprise and/or may be hired on an as-needed basisfrom a third party provider. Some cloud computing environments maycomprise cloud computing resources owned and operated by the enterpriseas well as cloud computing resources hired and/or leased from a thirdparty provider.

In an embodiment, some or all of the functionality disclosed above maybe provided as a computer program product. The computer program productmay comprise one or more computer readable storage medium havingcomputer usable program code embodied therein to implement thefunctionality disclosed above. The computer program product may comprisedata structures, executable instructions, and other computer usableprogram code. The computer program product may be embodied in removablecomputer storage media and/or non-removable computer storage media. Theremovable computer readable storage medium may comprise, withoutlimitation, a paper tape, a magnetic tape, magnetic disk, an opticaldisk, a solid state memory chip, for example analog magnetic tape,compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM) disks, floppy disks, jump drives,digital cards, multimedia cards, and others. The computer programproduct may be suitable for loading, by the computer system 380, atleast portions of the contents of the computer program product to thesecondary storage 384, to the ROM 386, to the RAM 388, and/or to othernon-volatile memory and volatile memory of the computer system 380. Theprocessor 382 may process the executable instructions and/or datastructures in part by directly accessing the computer program product,for example by reading from a CD-ROM disk inserted into a disk driveperipheral of the computer system 380. Alternatively, the processor 382may process the executable instructions and/or data structures byremotely accessing the computer program product, for example bydownloading the executable instructions and/or data structures from aremote server through the network connectivity devices 392. The computerprogram product may comprise instructions that promote the loadingand/or copying of data, data structures, files, and/or executableinstructions to the secondary storage 384, to the ROM 386, to the RAM388, and/or to other non-volatile memory and volatile memory of thecomputer system 380.

In some contexts, the secondary storage 384, the ROM 386, and the RAM388 may be referred to as a non-transitory computer readable medium or acomputer readable storage media. A dynamic RAM embodiment of the RAM388, likewise, may be referred to as a non-transitory computer readablemedium in that while the dynamic RAM receives electrical power and isoperated in accordance with its design, for example during a period oftime during which the computer 380 is turned on and operational, thedynamic RAM stores information that is written to it. Similarly, theprocessor 382 may comprise an internal RAM, an internal ROM, a cachememory, and/or other internal non-transitory storage blocks, sections,or components that may be referred to in some contexts as non-transitorycomputer readable media or computer readable storage media.

While several embodiments have been provided in the present disclosure,it should be understood that the disclosed systems and methods may beembodied in many other specific forms without departing from the spiritor scope of the present disclosure. The present examples are to beconsidered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the intention is notto be limited to the details given herein. For example, the variouselements or components may be combined or integrated in another systemor certain features may be omitted or not implemented.

Also, techniques, systems, subsystems, and methods described andillustrated in the various embodiments as discrete or separate may becombined or integrated with other systems, modules, techniques, ormethods without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.Other items shown or discussed as directly coupled or communicating witheach other may be indirectly coupled or communicating through someinterface, device, or intermediate component, whether electrically,mechanically, or otherwise. Other examples of changes, substitutions,and alterations are ascertainable by one skilled in the art and could bemade without departing from the spirit and scope disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A nutritional management system, comprising: aplurality of processors in a cloud computing environment; a memory ofROM, RAM, or both ROM and RAM located in the cloud computingenvironment; a first data store comprising a list of products, universalproduct codes associated with the products, and nutritional informationassociated with the products; a second data store comprising purchasehistories linked to a plurality of different loyalty card users; and anapplication stored and partitioned in the memory that, when executed bythe plurality of processors, accesses the second data store to read apurchase history of a loyalty card user over a most recent predefinedtime period, analyzes the most recent predefined time period of thepurchase history of the loyalty card user based on objective nutritionalguidelines to identify unhealthy purchased items, wherein the unhealthypurchased items includes a least healthy previous purchase, searches thefirst data store to find substitute candidates for the least healthyprevious purchase, identifies at least one of the substitute candidatesthat is eligible for an individual discount targeted to the loyalty carduser, transmits, in a webpage to a mobile phone of the loyalty card uservia a network connected to a wireless communication link provided by atransceiver base station, the least healthy previous purchase, the atleast one of the substitute candidates that is eligible for theindividual discount, and the individual discount, wherein the leasthealthy previous purchase, the at least one of the substitute candidatesthat is eligible for the individual discount, and the individualdiscount are presented in the web page to call attention to the leasthealthy previous purchase and the individual discount for the at leastone of the substitute candidates that is eligible for the individualdiscount, receives a selection, from the mobile phone via the networkconnected to the wireless communication link provided by the transceiverbase station, of one or more of the at least one of the substitutecandidates that is eligible for the individual discount, and generates ashopping list comprising the one or more of the at least one of thesubstitute candidates that is eligible for the individual discount andthat is selected.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the objectivenutritional guidelines comprise United States Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) guidelines.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein theobjective nutritional guidelines comprise United States Department ofAgriculture (USDA) guidelines.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein theapplication further transmits the shopping list to the mobile phone viathe network connected to the wireless communication link provided by thetransceiver base station.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein theapplication defines the unhealthy purchased items based in part on anutritional goal defined for the loyalty card user.
 6. A methodperformed by an application executed by a plurality of processors in acloud computing environment, comprising: accessing, by the plurality ofprocessors, a first data store to read a most recent predefined timeperiod of purchase history of a loyalty card user, wherein the firstdata store comprises purchase histories linked to a plurality ofdifferent loyalty card users; analyzing, by the plurality of processors,the food items of the most recent predefined time period of purchasehistory based on objective nutritional guidelines to identify unhealthypurchased items, wherein the unhealthy purchased items includes a leasthealthy previous purchase; identifying, by the plurality of processors,a list of potential product substitutes by accessing a second data storecomprising a list of products, universal product codes associated withthe products, and nutritional information associated with the productsto obtain a list of product entries that belong to food types which arethe same as the unhealthy purchased items; identifying, by the pluralityof processors, a list of candidate product substitutes by analyzing thelist of potential product substitutes based on the objective nutritionalguidelines; identifying, by the plurality of processors, at least one ofthe candidate product substitutes that is eligible for an individualdiscount targeted to the loyalty card user; transmitting, by theplurality of processors in a web page to a mobile phone of the loyaltycard user via a network connected to a wireless communication linkprovided by a transceiver base station, the least healthy previouspurchase, the at least one of the substitute candidates that is eligiblefor the individual discount, and the individual discount, wherein theleast healthy previous purchase, the at least one of the candidateproduct substitutes that is eligible for the individual discount, andthe individual discount are presented in the web page to call attentionto the least healthy previous purchase and the individual discount forthe at least one of the candidate product substitutes that is eligiblefor an individual discount; receiving, by the plurality of processorsfrom the mobile phone of the loyalty card user via the network connectedto the wireless communication link provided by the transceiver basestation, a selection of one or more of the at least one of the candidateproduct substitutes that is eligible for an individual discount; andgenerating, by the plurality of processors, a shopping list comprisingthe one or more of the at least one of the candidate product substitutesthat is eligible for an individual discount and that is selected.
 7. Themethod of claim 6, wherein receiving the selection of one or more of theat least one of the candidate product substitutes that is eligible foran individual discount comprises receiving an input to the web page. 8.The method of claim 6, wherein the objective nutritional guidelinescomprise at least one of United States Department of Agricultureguidelines and United States Food and Drug Administration guidelines. 9.The method of claim 6, wherein the food types comprise beverages; breadand bakery; breakfast and cereal; cookies, snacks, and candy; dairy,eggs, and cheese; fruits and vegetables; and meat and seafood.
 10. Themethod of claim 6, wherein the shopping list comprising the one or moreof the at least one of the candidate product substitutes that iseligible for an individual discount and that is selected is transmittedto the mobile phone via the network connected to the wirelesscommunication link provided by the transceiver base station.
 11. Themethod of claim 6, wherein the shopping list comprising the one or moreof the at least one of the candidate product substitutes that iseligible for an individual discount and that is selected is transmittedto a computer.
 12. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving anutrition criteria input and wherein the identifying the list ofcandidate product substitutes is further based on the nutritioncriteria.